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Academic says Pacific countries should ramp up the value of their fish stocks

Fri, 04/19/2013 - 4:57pm

Research suggests many of the effects of climate change on fisheries are being overshadowed by growing population pressures.Professor Morgan Pratchett is one of a number of scientists who researched the effects of climate change on the regions fisheries on behalf of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.He says the Pacific generates a lot of revenue by selling fishing rights, but the value is going to increase as they start realising that coastal fisheries are over-exploited.Professor Pratchett says countries need to retain a much larger share of their fisheries so they can sustain the security of a major food source. “We’ve got to reconsider what the value of these fish really are and so, if they continue to generate just the current economic income then they’re going to be left, still, with a big problem in terms of ’how do you feed the growing population within those countries?’ And so we’ve got to have a good look at this.”Morgan Pratchett says there is still a lot of research to be done in this area.